Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

In this way, the major concern of the entire North China locust army can be completely resolved.

Taniguchi Motojiro strongly agreed with this strategy.

Originally, according to Taniguchi Motojiro's plan, after the 108th Division became combat-ready, he would mobilize a batch of secret weapons from the northeast and join forces with other locust troops to march into southeastern Shanxi in one fell swoop.

After all, much of the previously accumulated supplies had been shipped to the south as the war in the south consumed them, and North China still had to wait for the next batch.

However, the war situation was ever-changing. What Taniguchi Motojiro had not expected was that a simple autumn sweep would lead to the locust army in North China reaching this point.

The current locust army in North China has had bad luck. First, the air force was completely destroyed by Zeng Jiwen using some unknown secret weapon, and the heavy artillery battalions belonging to the various divisions of the locust army were also withdrawn to the south, causing the locust army to suffer a lot when fighting with the Eighth Route Army troops in North China.

Although Taniguchi Motojiro was somewhat worried about Kenji Doihara's plan, after all, as the locust armies in North China began to be withdrawn, the places where they were originally stationed would soon be reoccupied by the Chinese army.

The locust army will have to spend a lot of energy to retake these places later. No matter how you look at it, this plan is full of loopholes.

But as Itagaki said, Zeng Jiwen's 389th Division and its jurisdiction have now become a major threat to the Locust Army. If it is not stopped, it is very likely that the situation in North China will become even more unfavorable for the Locust Army in the future.

Now Zeng Jiwen has been able to tie down most of the locust army in North China. If Zeng Jiwen is given more time to develop, I can’t imagine how his army will expand.

Therefore, in order to nip this threat in the bud, Taniguchi Motojiro also felt it necessary to concentrate his forces to launch a targeted attack on Zeng Jiwen's troops.

As for other places that have been recaptured by the Chinese army, if the locust army can capture them the first time, they can capture them the second time.

As long as the threat posed by Zeng Jiwen's troops is eliminated, the other Chinese troops will be nothing to the locust army.

However, what Taniguchi Motojiro did not expect at the subsequent North China Military Conference was that, except for the generals under the current First Army who supported this solution, the generals of other North China Front Army strongly disagreed with this approach.

The commander of the Mongolian garrison, Hasunuma Ban, who had already arrived, even slammed the table at Sugiyama Gen during a military meeting, angrily scolding Sugiyama Gen for his reckless command, which led to the current situation of the locust army in North China.

At the same time, he directly issued a statement to reprimand the generals at all levels of the First Army, saying that it was the connivance of the First Army that led to the growth and development of the 389th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and now the entire North China Front Army has to bear the responsibility.

In addition, the commander of the 21st Division, Touhei Washutsu, the commander of the 26th Division, Jun Gonomiya, and the North China Guard Brigade, as well as the staff military generals at all levels under the North China Front Army Command, all disagreed with Kenji Doihara's battle plan.

After all, if Kenji Doihara's previous suggestion was followed, the locust army's early efforts in North China over the past year would instantly become a joke.

Moreover, once the locust troops from other places are mobilized to start the encirclement, it is hard to say whether Zeng Jiwen's 389th Division can be eliminated. If other places are recaptured by the Chinese army, the locust troops will recapture them, which will waste the empire's resources.

The war in the south has now made the Locust Army very unbearable. Now there is news that the headquarters will change the policy towards the National Government on the Chinese battlefield, and it has achieved certain results. Some people in the Chinese government have already contacted the Locust Army.

Regardless of whether this plan succeeds or not, the consequences will have to be borne by the entire North China Front Army, which is something that the other Japanese troops, except the generals of the First Army, do not want to see.

But before everyone could figure out what was going on, news came that Shijiazhuang was surrounded by the Eighth Route Army, immediately attracting everyone's attention.

Whether it was the Japanese military headquarters, the Western powers, or the north, after receiving the news that Shijiazhuang was surrounded by the Eighth Route Army, they all immediately began to collect information about the Eighth Route Army troops surrounding the Japanese troops in Shijiazhuang.

What these countries did not expect was that on the Chinese battlefield, which was currently losing ground, there was actually an army that had begun to recapture important Chinese cities without relying on the assistance of these countries.

This immediately surprised some ambassadors to China.

The Japanese troops in North China, who were at the center of the vortex, suddenly became gloomy and began to retreat after receiving inquiries or reprimands from various Japanese forces.

Afterwards, the generals who disagreed with Kenji Doihara's suggestion, after considering the impact, immediately took a step back and reluctantly agreed to this crazy plan of Kenji Doihara and Seishirō Itagaki, and then immediately ordered the assembled troops to start reinforcing Shijiazhuang.

According to Taniguchi Motojiro's idea, after the locust army set off, he would be able to quickly gather reinforcements from the locust army near Taiyuan and immediately send reinforcements to Shijiazhuang.

However, what Taniguchi Motojiro did not expect was that until now, the reinforcements near Taiyuan, and even Shouyang, had not arrived yet. The 39th Brigade was blocked on the road by the Eighth Route Army's blocking troops as soon as it left the city.

In Yu County, not far to the north, although the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade had suffered heavy casualties, the brigade's four infantry battalions, and now there are more than two infantry battalions of locust troops, can still serve as reinforcements. However, the order has been issued for almost nine hours, and so far, Qingshui's mixed brigade has not even left Yu County.

If Kiyomi Shimizu knew what Motojiro Taniguchi was thinking, she would definitely complain bitterly.

Ever since the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade received the order from the North China Front Army to gather its troops and prepare for the march, the brigade commander, Kiyomi Shimizu, immediately assembled the entire brigade's locust troops that were still able to continue fighting.

However, before the North China Front Army could issue the order for reinforcement, Yun County was surrounded by the Eighth Route Army of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei.